Employees commonly leave organizations due to toxic work environments, with 55% attributing their departure to having had toxic bosses. The transformation of initially sterling leadership traits into toxic behaviors poses a significant challenge. Not all seemingly positive traits retain their value, as certain traits can become toxic when an individual transitions into a leadership role. According to Hogan Assessments, three leadership traits may easily turn toxic if not addressed. Dr. Ryne Sherman, chief science officer at Hogan Assessments, emphasizes the critical nature of leadership in organizations, highlighting the impact of toxic leaders on fairness, trust, engagement, and employee turnover.
Trait #1: Caution
Caution can seem like a good trait for a manager to possess as it is assumed these leaders will be measured and rational. But this is not always the case and, according to Sherman, this trait can be far more limiting than beneficial. Cautious leaders can be toxic as their fear of making mistakes can bring projects and companies to a standstill. “These kinds of leaders tend to operate with a ‘worst case scenario’ mentality which makes them dwell on the fact that nothing is certain,” the science officer explains. “This in turn creates a reluctance in cautious leaders to try new things and struggle to make decisions.”
When decisions are based on cooperation and team spirit it’s one thing. But there’s a point at which caution and approval-seeking hurt how leaders are viewed in the workplace, discussed here. An inability to commit to a decision can bring projects to a halt and result in a complete lack of leadership or aimless managers, Hogan experts note. This negatively affects their subordinates as their teams will then learn to work around to complete their daily task, suffering from a lack of management as a result. Alternatively, this indecision or lack of agency could potentially rub off on their team, leading the entire department to feel directionless and struggle to reach their goals.
Trait #2: Imagination
“Zig-zagging,” versus a linear career path, can be a great way to build a diverse set of skills and a roadmap for professional advancement, although there are drawbacks. “Imaginative people are highly creative, and they love to engage in brainstorming sessions, which as an employee can be a positive as it means there is always a platform provided to you by your managers for your ideas and feelings to be heard,” Sherman observes. “However, as leaders, they can become easily bored by daily tasks and activities which can be counter-productive to the success of a business. Imaginative leaders are easily distracted by their own thoughts and have the potential to get off-task, resulting in a more chaotic and unorganized approach to leadership which may isolate or hinder employees working under them who thrive off a more structured approach to their work,” he continues, adding that their leadership style has the potential to turn toxic as they tend to over-complicate problems and relish the opportunity to find unconventional or new ways to approach issues.” Not every problem requires a leader to rewrite the book, he points out, and their insistence on ingenuity and creativity can result in employees viewing them as unfocused and impractical leaders, which can undermine their authority, further adding to the chaos of their management style.
Trait #3: Boldness
Bold leaders can be inspiring, courageous, and confident. Employees can indeed learn a lot from them and their rise to the tops of their organizations, but they can also be a challenge to work for and under, Sherman states. “Bold leaders refuse to acknowledge their faults and mistakes or take accountability for their failures for fear of losing face. Believing they are infallible, or at least insistent that they be portrayed as such, they will often shift the blame for any problems onto their teams. This can lead to a lack of trust within a team structure and result in resentment among lower members of the organization, creating a toxic work environment,” notes Sherman. “While bold leaders sometimes have a lack of accountability, they may also take any opportunity to talk themselves up—even going as far as taking credit for any team achievements regardless of the level of their involvement. These types of leaders are often bad at acknowledging the hard work of their employees as well, choosing instead to highlight their own achievements to their superiors.” This lack of team solidarity, as well as an absence of encouragement, can be demoralizing for a team and lead to resentment among co-workers, as well as a lack of drive or motivation within the employees they lead, he posits.
According to Sherman, employers should be aware of the impact of toxic leadership because toxic leaders can ruin organizations. “Organizations hoping to avoid the pitfalls of toxic leadership should consider using a validated personality assessment to identify which leaders have the potential for toxicity and to create development programs designed to mitigate toxic leadership and its consequences,” he concludes. “Organizations can also use personality assessments to identify future leaders who are less likely to display toxic behaviors.”
Shields Or Swords? A Word Of Takeaway
So, is it important that management look at these three leadership traits as shields or swords? In some ways, it’s like asking if water is good or bad. Too much or too little can kill us. Maybe the way to consider caution, imagination, and boldness—or any personality trait for that matter—is one of degree—neither good nor bad. But in the final analysis, it’s about balance and how leaders use them to manage that counts.